Catch Me If You Can
by Egghead
Summary: Updated:A hunt featuring Konoha's Rookie 9, Gai's team, The Sand siblings & a little flying ball : Very slight HP crossoverDisclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Hp in any way, shape or form.


**Catch Me If You Can**

Summary: This is a humorous little fic which I came up with in my spare time. It involves the Rookie 9, Gai's team, the Sand siblings & one little flying ball. (Guest appearance by the little flying ball from Harry Potter)

"So tell me. How exactly did we end up in this situation?" The question came from Sasuke who sat under a tree breathing heavily besides his teammates, Naruto & Sakura who were just as dead tired as he was.

The entire Rookie 9, Gai's team & the sand siblings were either sitting or lying down in an open field on the outskirts of Konoha. Everyone seemed to be tired for some reason. Even the normally expressionless Gaara looked winded. The destruction around the area (uprooted or sliced trees, big holes on the ground, smashed up rocks, minor bush fires, etc) as well as the countless bladed weapons & sand littering the area seemed to indicate that a battle of epic proportions had taken place there though none of the people present seemed to have any injuries aside from a few minor cuts & bruises made to their bodies & in some cases to their egos.

The Sand's Puppetmaster Kankurro was the one to answer Sasuke's question. "Hey! that's my line there. I don't even know why WE have to be involved in this as well. Maybe you should ask that question to your idiot teammate there, pretty boy." He said, glaring at Naruto while inspecting his puppet Karasu for any damages.

Naruto glared right back at Kankurro & said. "Are you saying it's my fault? How can it be my fault toyman? I'm just as tired of chasing that 'thing' around as any of you guys."

"For once, I agree with Kankurro." Shino, the mysterious bug wielder, said quietly, looking at Naruto. "If I remember correctly Naruto, you were the one who started this whole affair with your constant bragging of your skills."

Naruto then felt his face driven to the ground by a foot to the back of his head. Namely, Sakura's foot.

"THAT'S RIGHT! SO NOW WE'RE ALL STUCK HERE TRYING TO CHASE DOWN THAT TINY TERROR!" Sakura screamed at the hapless shinobi with numerous veins popping out of her forehead & causing the others to sweatdrop at seeing the enraged kunoichi.

Naruto thought back at the events which led to their current predicament.

(Naruto's Flashback)

"You wanted to see all of us Granny Tsunade?" Naruto asked the 5th Hokage as Team 7 arrived in a training ground outside Konohagure. Team 7 were not the only ones present as Asuma's team, Kurenai's team, Gai's team & the Sand siblings were also there.

"And why are THEY here as well?" Sasuke asked, looking at the trio from the Sand. You can practically feel the tension as shinobis from the Leaf, especially Sasuke, Neiji, Ino & Kiba glared at their Sand counterparts.

Gaara simply glanced at the Leaf shinobis & answered quietly. "It's not like we wanted to be here but we are under orders from our village to participate in a special joint exercise with you."

Tsunade stood by with her eyebrows twitching before answering. "All right, knock it off all of you. 1st & foremost..." Tsunade walks towards Naruto & beckons him to come closer before screaming in his ear. "DIDN'T I TELL YOU NOT TO FREAKIN' CALL ME GRANNY!"

She then composes herself & walks away from Naruto whose ear was still smoking from the verbal assault & continues with the briefing. "As i was saying, the reason why i called all of you here & even requested these 3 from the sand is because for the past few weeks or so, i've noticed that everyone has not been getting any worthwhile missions & i'm concerned that it might affect your performances as shinobis."

Naruto harrumphs & managed to look bored & annoying at the same time. "I don't know about these other guys but Team 7 is always in top condition & we're good to go at any given moment."

Tsunade turns & gives Naruto a predatory smile. "Ohhh reeaaallly?"

Sakura & Sasuke sweatdrops & thought to themselves. "_I don't like that look on her face. She's planning something for all of us."_

"You better believe it. As a matter of fact, we can probably do ANY mission you can dish out right now quicker then you can say Hokage." Naruto boasted, earning him groans from his teammates & more then a few murderous looks from the others. And it was entirely possible that Gaara actually meant to kill the loudmouthed shinobi.

"Then why don't we get down to business." Tsunade said with a triumphant smile, digging out a small box from her pocket. "I'm assigning a mission to ALL of you. This will be a joint exercise between the 4 teams from Konoha & the representatives of the Sand to see how well you can work together." She said, opening the box.

From the small box, agolden sphere slightly bigger then a marble unfurled gossamer wings & flew up, settling into Tsunade's open palm.

"It'll be a retrieval mission & this little runt will be your objective." She said, motioning towards the little flying object.

The Hyuga prodigy, Neiji studies the little sphere on Tsunade's palm & asks the most obvious question that was on everyone's mind. "Exactly what is it anyway?"

Tsunade looks at the object in her hand & answers. "It's a a Golden Snitch. A goodwill present by one of the foreign ambassadors from the west. It's supposed to be used in a game involving players in flying broomsticks & catching this thing usually meant an automatic victory."

"So if we catch this, it would mean that the mission is complete, right?" Naruto said, looking at it. He then gives Tsunade one of his foxy grins & pronounces confidently. "Piece of cake! And here I thought you really had something difficult for all of us."

"Sakura, do something." Sasuke whispered urgently to Sakura. Normally, the thought of Sasuke whispering in her ear would've turned Sakura into a blabbering, lovesick idiot. But this was a different situation where their fate was unknown & absolutely anything that Naruto said or do may either improve it or make it worse. "That dope's gonna dig a hole big enough for ALL of us to fall into & he doesn't even realize it."

Sakura nervously looks at Tsunade who still had the predatory smile on her face & nods in understanding. She quickly puts Naruto in a headlock & pulls him away.

"Would you please shut the hell up? You're gonna get all of of us in serious trouble with your constant blabbering." Sakura whispered harshly. But Naruto was not listening as he was busily enjoying the feel of Sakura ample bosom against his head.

Noticing what Naruto was doing, a vein pops out of Sakura's head & she flings Naruto to a nearby tree then looks hopefully at Tsunade. "Hokage-sama, please don't listen to what that idiot has been saying. You know he doesn't think before he opens he mouth, ne?"

But it was a little too late for Sakura to say anything for Tsunade had already decided & they were commited. "No, no, Naruto IS right. This should be a simple task for all of you so you SHOULD be able to catch it in no time at all. And just because I'm in a generous mood today, you've all got 24 hours to track it down & capture it. HOWEVER..." Tsunade looks from one face to another as she announces her conditions ominously. "Should you be unable to catch it, then ALL of you WILL be demoted 2 ranks down. And that includes our 3 guests here which I will personally reccomend to the Kazekage."

"Now wait just a damned minute." Temari protested, stomping up to the Hokage & staring her down. "I can understand why you'd demote these losers from your own village but what gives you the right to put US in the same league as them?"

It was Shikamaru who sighs in annoyance & answers the Sand kunoichi. "How troublesome. Weren't you paying attention? She said this is a JOINT exercise, meaning the results & outcome will reflect on ALL of us. And if I'm not mistaken, this has the approval of the Kazekage so you've got no choice in the matter" The lazy tactical genius explained.

"Relax Temari, how hard could catching this little thing be?" Naruto said with a confident smile & started reaching for the little flying ball. Much to his & everyone else's surprise, the object flew from Tsunade's hand & zipped around the group at jawdropping speed before disappearing into the woods, leaving the group in stunned silence.

"D...Did everyone just see that?" Kiba asked nobody in particular whose slackjawed expression matched that of his canine partner.

"I...I...I'm sorry but I couldn't clearly see it either." Hinata responded & looks at her cousin Neiji who simply shakes his head, signifying that he wasn't able to follow the ball even with his Byakugan.

"Oh, I forgot to mention..." Tsunade adds, almost as an afterthought. "That little thing is much faster then it looks people. If you wanna catch it, you better get a move on coz you've got 24 hours to do so or else..." She leaves the threat hanging in the air.

"NOW she tells us." Naruto mutters & executes a familiar set of hand seals. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Instantly, a dozen Naruto shadow clones appear besides the original. "Alright boys, let's get 'em!"

(end flashback)

Naruto sweatdrops as he remembers the events & looked suitably contrite. "Ehehehe, I supposed I did say a little too much at that time. I'm sorry?"

Another foot, this time belonging to a visibly irked Ino, slams down hard on Naruto's head. "SORRY ISN'T GONNA CUT IT NARUTO! BECAUSE OF YOU, WE'RE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE NOW & WE MIGHT POSSIBLY LOSE OUR HARD EARNED RANKINGS!"

Naruto then felt himself start to sink into the ground & looked down in wide-eyed fear, finding himself in a sinkhole of sand.

"Maybe we should put him out of OUR misery & be done with it." Gaara said & coldly watched Naruto struggle in the deathtrap of sand he had created.

"Now, now. It wasn't as if anything Naruto said at that time wasn't true." Lee interjected, swallowing nervously at the murderous look that Sakura, Ino & Gaara was giving him. "I mean, think about it. The task seemed relatively simple when it was 1st assigned to us."

"But that was before we found out it was some sort of mini-comet from hell. Nobody was able to come close to it. Not even you with your leg weights removed Lee." His teammate Tenten pointed out.

The group fell silent except for the sound of Naruto's pleas for help & even after Gaara released him, the group still said nothing until Temari broke the silence with a complaint.

"If only white eyes here didn't use his damned Kaiten to knock that ball away as it was coming towards him from behind. It would've all been over." Temari griped, looking at Neiji

Neiji glared at the sand kunoichi & if looks could kill, she would've dropped dead. "Well, EXCUSE me, but it was a purely reflex action because I was trained that way. And I wouldn't talk if I were you. Wasn't it your Dai Kamaitachi which almost leveled the entire forest & spooked that ball into flying around even further?"

"WHAT? I was trying to clear the area in order for us to see where the thing was heading." Temari protested.

"Yeah. If your looking to blame anybody for causing meaningless destruction, you should blame Fatboy for using his Baika No Jutsu & Dogbreath's Garouga." Kankurro adds.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAT? I'M JUST BIGBONED! COME SAY THAT TO MY FACE GIRLY MAN!" Chouji screamed while being restrained by Shikamaru's Kage Mane No Jutsu.

"G-g-girly man?" Kankurro said, his eyebrows twitching

"What he meant was you wear more makeup then any girl we know." Kiba said with a snicker, glad that somebody finally managed to get under the puppeteer's skin.

"THAT'S IT! I'M NOT GONNA STAND FOR ANY INSULTS FROM YOU LITTLE PUNKS!" Kankurro raged as he started manipulating Karasu which began sprouting weapons of all sorts from it's body.

"BRING IT, GIRLY MAN! I'LL SQUASH YOU LIKE THE PEST YOU ARE!" Chouji said & started forming the seals for his family's technique.

"ALRIGHT! FREE FOR ALL!" Kiba cheered, getting down on all fours in preparation to attack with Akamaru barking madly while sitting on top of Kiba's head.

Suddenly, a column of sand, bursts up between the potential combatants, stopping them cold in their tracks.

"ENOUGH!" Rarely did Gaara raise his voice, but whenever he did, his siblings knew very well that he was upset. And sure enough, Gaara DID look upset though his voice sounded relatively calm.

"If you do NOT stop this childish behavior, you won't live long enough to even be demoted." Gaara looked deadly serious as he made the threat. "What we should be discussing right now is how to capture the objective & we've got less then 12 hours to do it."

"Gaara is right, of course." Shikamaru said with a sigh. "We have to complete this troublesome task or else we'll be in an even deeper dilemma. We have to go about this in an organized manner & as a team."

"So what do you suppoose we should do?" Sasuke asked Shikamaru.

Shikamaru sat down & started to think. When he opened his eyes a few minutes later, he had a triumphant smirk in his face. "Ok, if everyone is willing, this is what we'll do."

(Later that afternoon...)

As theSnitch was zipping leisourly around the wreckage of the forest, a hurricane strength gust of wind, followed by a hail of kunai by Temari & Tenten caused it to suddenly change directions & it made a beeline towards the safety of some fallen trees.

But just as suddenly, a gigantic foot belonging to Chouji squashes the trees & left it with nowhere to go. After which, Kankurro manipulates Karasu to charge & Kiba performs his tandem technique with Akamaru to try & catch the ball. But it was still far too fast & agile for them to catch & it gets away. But as it starts to try & escape from the forest, a stream of fire blown by Sasuke drives it back towards Neiji & Hinata who only manage to lightly touch one of the wings. Lee then took up the chase & managed to clip it with one of his spinning kicks, but still the ball flew.

At this point, Sakura & Ino jumps out from the bush to try & surprise theSnitch but it veers away from towards Shino who sends some of his Destruction Bugs to try & capture it.

The bugs does not capture the ball but it did distract theSnitch long enough for Gaara use his sand to completely smother it. And just to make sure it wouldn't get away, clones of Naruto piled up on the mound of sand engulfing the ball.

"Yes! We finally got it!" The Narutos proclaimed together triumphantly.

"Yeah, no thanks to you, dope." Sasuke said, ju.mping down from a tree.

"We shouldn't have had such a difficult time with this if we only worked together from the very beginning. Everyone was trying to catch it themselves to show off everyone else." Naruto retorted.

"Including you, brick-for-brains" Kiba snarled with Akamaru barking his confirmation.

Shikamaru sighed & massaged his forehead. "all right, knock it off you two. Let's get this troublesome thing back to Tsunade-Sama before it decides to break free. Move it or lose it people."

"Btw, exactly HOW are we gonna bring the ball back to Tsunade-Sama seeing as its beneath all that sand & Naruto?" Lee asked no one in particular.

The whole group became silent for a while before Sakura spoke up with a malicious glint in her eyes while looking at the Narutos covering the mound of sand. "Well, seeing as most of this is Naruto's fault..."

Everyone's eyes then looks at Naruto at the same time, making the blonde boy sweatdrop & nervous as hell.

(later that day)

"I take it you've finally caught the Snitch. Took you long enough though, so where is it?" Tsunade asked as she met the shinobis at the main gate

"There were complications, but we managed to retrieve the item. It's in there." Gaara said, pointing towards the spherical lump of sand floating behind him.

"Very good. You've all performed better then expected. I'm very pr….Where the devil is Naruto?" Tsunade asked, looking around to see where Naruto had gone."

Without saying another word, Gaara twirled his finger in mid-air, making the lump of sand twirl around as well.

Tsunade laughed out loud as she saw what was there. It was Naruto, at least 8 of them, stuck within the sand with only their heads sticking out and crying pitifully.

Author's Note: Thanks for the good review guys. Just keep 'em coming

To Lakotalover:W-W-What do you mean? (Sorry, I couldn't help myself, hehehe) There was more then 3 mentions of Tenten wasn't there? Hmmm... I guess not. I'll keep that in mind for future fics

To dragonmage27:This IS a humor fic after all, right? So please humor me on this one


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